The Redhead Plays Her Hand Page 11
Recently Hamilton’s behavior has raised some red flags. While appearing in the past to be a quiet and reserved actor, he’s been hitting the party and nightclub circuit heavily, photographed at all hours of the night, often appearing heavily intoxicated. No word on how Sheridan is handling the time apart or Hamilton’s new life as the party persona.
The question is, now that Grace’s star is on the rise, will they or won’t they reveal their true relationship?
E! Online
Production closed for the new series Mabel’s Unstable?, and actress Grace Sheridan celebrated with close friends at a restaurant in the trendy neighborhood of Los Feliz. Cast members, writers, and director David Lancaster gathered together to toast to the new show’s success. But that’s not the big story . . . Originally slated for a fall release, rumor has it that while production and subsequent ordering of a full season before an episode had even aired was based partly on the originality of the show, the quick pickup may also be linked to the star’s alleged relationship with Jack Hamilton. Was the show picked up because of the obvious connection between Sheridan, a previously unknown actress with no credits to her name, and her high-profile relationship with Hamilton? Was the channel counting on her name staying linked to Hamilton? Stay tuned for more on that . . .
Press were camped outside the private party to see if Hamilton would show up to support his girlfriend. The pair has never commented publicly on the status of their relationship, and the pictures most indicative of a close relationship were captured before Time was released and before Sheridan was cast in the upcoming series. Since then they have been careful to avoid any pictures that could confirm the nature of their relationship, although several shots have been captured, most recently at a party at Holly Newman’s home (manager for both Hamilton and Sheridan) in late March. At the time, Hamilton was obviously intoxicated and being helped to a waiting car by both Sheridan and Michael O’Connell (writer and creator of Mabel’s Unstable?). Since then Hamilton has been seen partying many nights, usually in the company of his castmate from Soldier Boy Adam Kasen in either L.A. or Las Vegas. Hamilton was not seen entering the private party, but tweets from inside the restaurant confirmed he was in attendance. Sources inside the party report that Hamilton was quiet and reserved, sitting close to Sheridan or at her table and mingling with other party guests. While no pictures of the two have emerged, reports from inside confirm that they were holding hands and acting as though they were a couple. The two actors left in separate cars from the party.
Hamiltoned.com
Grace Sheridan and Jack Hamilton! Caught! Well, kind of . . . you be the judge. Hamiltoned.com has obtained exclusive pictures of the perhaps couple snuggling in a corner booth at a private wrap party for Sheridan’s series Mabel’s Unstable? in Los Feliz last night. While grainy at best, we have enhanced the upper-left corner of the shot, which clearly shows Jack’s hand on Grace’s shoulder! Whether you like them as a couple, we here at Hamiltoned thinks it’s great that he’s found someone he is clearly so comfortable with. Here’s hoping being the older one in the relationship she can keep a tighter leash on him! Good luck, Grace! Now who here is kind of excited about this new series she is in?
JackedOff.com
Jack Hamilton breaks it off with Grace Sheridon’t! In this exclusive shot from her stupid wrap party for her stupid new series about a washed-up beauty queen (beauty is questionable), the two were caught sitting in a corner booth. You totally can’t see it, but if you blow it up (like we did here) you can see he is clearly pushing her away when she tries to sit too close to him. We have long suspected that she’s totally in love with him (how can we blame her?) and using their mutual manager to try and get to him. Puhlease! Girl (Woman!), he was only there to help drum up publicity for your stupid new series! Which will tank. You heard it here first. Remember that! Even though we don’t want him dating anyone, can he at least date someone his own age? And not spend any more nights with this old redheaded hag? Was that bitchy??? Leave your comments here . . .
ENT
Reshoots have been ordered for scenes from the new show Mabel’s Unstable?, premiering this summer on cable channel Venue. Sources close to the show have reported that the reshoots are allegedly due to weight gain by the lead actress, Grace Sheridan. The thirty-three-year-old actress has struggled with her weight in the past, as shown in these pictures obtained exclusively by TMZ. Taken several years ago before she moved back to Los Angeles, Sheridan appears at least fifty pounds heavier and as a very different-looking woman than the one who’s been spotted out and about with the hottest actor of his generation. Does Jack know his girlfriend is a former fatty?
While much slimmer now, Sheridan is at the top end size-wise for an actress. Her curves are well noted in these pictures from the Time premiere last fall. Sources from the studio have confirmed that Grace was asked to drop weight before shooting began on Mabel’s Unstable?, and while she complied at the time, by the end of shooting her weight began to creep back up.
“She is significantly larger than the other actresses on the series, and she really worked hard to get her weight down. But it’s noticeable now. The producers noticed, and now we’re in reshoots. You figure it out,” said an unnamed source from the studio.
CurvyGirlGuide.com
Responding to a story from ENT on May 25, we at CGG posted an article about Grace Sheridan and her “curvy girl” status. Grace Sheridan is five five, and as close as we can project, she is probably a size 6, maybe a size 8. With an athletically naturally curvy build, Sheridan is larger than most Hollywood actresses. Most the ladies in the fall TV lineup wear a size 2, if not a size 0. Most are petite, many barely over five two. Suddenly Grace Sheridan is a giant!
We asked our readers what they thought about the story ENT put out there, along with the pictures of an admittedly plus-size Sheridan taken several years ago. You responded well. We received more e-mails and more comments on this than any other story this year, combined.
We barely knew who Grace Sheridan was a few months ago. Now we know. And we like. And we will watch. And we will cheer. Thank God there’s a woman on TV that’s a size 8. Still a few sizes smaller than the average American woman, but we’re not too picky. Unlike Hollywood. Go, Sheridan, go!
And while normally we would refrain from commenting on a celebrity’s love life, if reports are in fact true and she is dating Super Sexy Scientist Guy? We. Are. Officially. A. Fan. Of them both.
StarTrackers
A heated exchange took place between director David Lancaster and actress Grace Sheridan on the set of the Venue show where the cast and crew were filming reshoots. The director reportedly brought everyone back to restage some scenes after producers were said to be “concerned about the look of the show” once Sheridan put back on the weight she was asked to lose. Arguing outside of her trailer about a wardrobe choice, Sheridan seemed angry and frustrated with the director’s request that she “cover up” for one of the steamier scenes set to be redone. As a new actress to this industry, standing up to a director of Lancaster’s caliber is almost unheard of. A wardrobe consultant on the series, Amber Bigalow, has stated, “I love Grace. I love working with her. It’s great to dress a real woman for a change, instead of the impossibly thin actresses I normally work with. Nothing against other actresses, but she’s a great change of pace from the bodies I normally see. She looks like me, at least she would if I worked my ass off!”
Since this story was first reported, opinions have run rampant on the Internet, both scorning and praising the new actress. Sheridan has not commented, but her manager, Holly Newman, did confirm that while the actress was frustrated that the story was being reported, she was pleased to see that it had opened up a dialogue.
The series is set to debut in two weeks, so let’s hope the scenes are completed by then . . .
eleven
Unexpected. That was a word, a word that defined everything that had happened to my life in the last few months. Unexpected.
Unexpected: the idea that my age would continue to be reported whenever Jack and I were mentioned.
Unexpected: the notion that our relationship was routinely the lead story on most entertainment blogs and entertainment TV shows when it was a slow news day, and sometimes when it wasn’t.
Unexpected: that a weight gain of sixteen pounds, only seven pounds more than when I was cast in this role, would yield the media coverage that it had and a possible endorsement deal from California Weight Loss Systems.
Unexpected: that my career as an actress, which I had dreamed of since I was a child, was now being overshadowed by a size 8 pair of jeans and my unconfirmed relationship with the Sexiest Man Alive.
Unexpected: Jack’s behavior and constant partying, particularly when he was on location.
Unexpected: the small but increasingly vocal contingent of fans who had begun to support me, even though my show had yet to premiere and I had yet to comment on the recent reports of my fighting with my director.
Unexpected: the reports were true.
Unexpected: Grace fans?
Unexpected: the fact that I had yet to appear on television but was almost famous—almost famous for nothing other than who I was dating and what I weighed.
Expected: most of Jack’s fans continued to hate me, writing post after post online about how thoroughly they despised me for getting to “fuck our Brit.”
I sat in Holly’s office after debriefing the latest online diatribes and the best way to handle the press junket I had scheduled the next day. This time tomorrow I’d be in front of every reporter and online entertainment bunny, all of them knowing they were not allowed to ask me about Jack but still trying as many creative ways to trip me up and get me to make their interview stand out from the other one hundred I would sit through.
I’d gone from just wanting to come back to Los Angeles and try to get a job singing a toothpaste jingle or watching a toddler dance around in the newest kind of diapers with a really big baby load to this: a series that was going to debut to high ratings even if the show was shit, which it was not, and a press junket where I would have to sit and watch as reporters showed pictures of me at my heaviest and tried to get me to comment on why weight was such an issue in Hollywood.
As Jim Morrison said, this is the strangest life I’ve ever known.
Holly had done her best to offer me different ways to answer certain questions, strategies to steer the conversation back to the work, the series, and away from my personal life. We knew there wouldn’t be a way to completely avoid everything, but there were ways to try to keep some control.
“So, do you have a boyfriend?”
“I’m so busy, I barely even have time to get a pedicure!”
“Are you dating anyone?”
“I’ve been so focused on this exciting new chapter in my life, in my career, that I’m really just excited about the work right now, and what might happen next.”
“So have you been to Santa Barbara recently?”
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it? One of my favorite places in Southern California.”
“What does Jack Hamilton think about the pictures that have surfaced recently of you considerably heavier than you are now?”
Silence.
“You have to be faster than that, Grace. You were doing really well,” Holly prodded gently.
“Can we take a break?” I sat back in my chair and leaned my head on my hand.
“Sure, but you ask for a break during this junket and you’ll be a diva who is combative and unresponsive during interviews.” She tossed me a bottle of water. I sipped and thought while she pecked on her laptop.
“Sixteen pounds! Sixteen pounds and they’re ready to get a crane to lift me out of the house! I’m underweight for my height, for God’s sake. It’s ridiculous!” I snapped, flipping through the most recent pictures of me in another tabloid magazine. The weight I had lost came back on as soon as I stopped the cucumber-and-air diet. I kept up the additional workouts, trying like hell to get back to at least my starting point, but my body knew where it was healthiest, and it was where I was now. Me + 16. “I can’t believe this is the story; this is how this new series is being framed. I feel terrible for the other actors.”
“Don’t. It’s press. Not the kind of press I would have liked, but it’s press. And it’s starting to turn in our favor, so buck up, asshead.”
“Were you always this tough?” I snorted into my water.
“Yep.”
“Does Michael like it when you’re tough?”
“Not answering that.” She smiled, a blush creeping into her cheeks.
Michael and Holly had officially been an item for some time now. They went into it slow, starting with a few dates here and there, spending time together when they could, and it had developed into a relationship. I had never seen her happier. She’d always been someone who dished everything—and I mean everything—about the guys she was dating. This one she was keeping pretty close to the vest, which showed me how much she was truly in love. I still saw Michael on set all the time, and it was now clear to me (and everyone else who spent any time with him) that Michael thought the sun rose and set on Holly. Still, it was nice having my friend with me as I went through this. Both my friends, actually.
“While we’re breaking, can we talk about Jack?” Holly asked.
“He’s your client. You talk to him.” I sighed, knowing where this was going.
Jack’s behavior had gone from questionable to really questionable in the last few weeks. He’d been on location longer than initially planned, mostly due to constant script rewrites and weather delays. Which made for plenty of playtime in Las Vegas, only an hour away. We talked every day, e-mailed, texted, and he came home as often as he could. But there was beginning to be a breach between Home Jack and On-Location Jack. Guess which one I preferred?
At the beginning, even though I didn’t like Adam, I brushed most of it off. Jack was young and having a good time, and as hard as he worked, he deserved to blow off a little steam. But we were getting into a gray area now, beyond steam blowing and into just plain blowing it. He was due back in town tonight, and I planned on seducing him, then trying, once again, to talk some sense into him.
Adam Kasen continued to be at the center of the trouble. I knew I didn’t like him, didn’t trust him, and my instincts had proven to be true. The earlier reports of his having cleaned up his act were bollocks, to use a phrase from Jack, and he was just as much of a party boy as he always was. Getting cast in the same movie as Jack was the best thing he could have done for his career, as he was all over the tabloids again and constantly linked with my boyfriend. My sweet, young, beautiful boyfriend who was smart but not infallible. Who was smart but impressionable.
And Adam was impressioning him right off a cliff and within reach of Dr. Drew, who was already commenting to anyone who would listen that Jack would be the next celebrity involved in a Lindsay Lohan–size scandal.
Not on my watch. I wasn’t going to let it happen.
The problem was he’d grown increasingly belligerent whenever Holly tried to talk to him about his public persona—the way he was behaving with his fans and the choices he was making. He didn’t want to hear it from her, and he barely wanted to hear it from me.
“He’s coming home tonight. I’ll talk to him,” I told her. “But you’re his manager. There’s only so much I can do.” I hoped I’d closed the subject before it really opened.
Jack felt terrible for what was being said about me in the press. He felt it was his fault—he felt directly responsible for the snipes and barbs being thrown at me by his fans.
“But if you weren’t with me, this wouldn’t be happening! Of course it’s my fault!” he shouted on the phone one night after a particularly nasty blog post had surfaced. I tried not to look anymore, but someone had shown it to him on set, and he exploded when he saw the expletives used to describe my ass . . . in a pair of shorts I wore one day to the gym. The
y were on the short side.
“I don’t see it that way, Jack. There’s not much anyone could say about me that would make me rethink being with you. Unless Joey McIntyre got involved. I’d have to really think hard about that one,” I joked, trying to sooth him.
“Who’s that?” he asked, his voice still tense and angry.
“Duh, he’s the youngest New Kid on the Block, and my personal favorite. I covet him.”
“You covet him?”
“Yes. This would be a good time for us to make our lists. You know, celebrities we are allowed to run away with if the opportunity arises? However, in your case, you actually have access to any celebrity you want, so I may have to be the only one in our relationship to have this privilege.”
“Now, now, wait a minute. I demand my list be in consideration,” he challenged, his voice relaxing now into the Jack I knew, the one I loved.
“Wait, wait, you already have a list?”
“Of course! Catherine Zeta-Jones is on that list.”
“Uh-oh, anyone else I need to know about?”
“Hmm, I have always had a soft spot for Jennifer Lopez. I’d be down with Jenny from the block.”
“This list is fascinating. Anyone else?” I laughed, sinking back into my bed. We were catching up after playing phone tag for two days. I was exhausted after a long day of reshoots but wanting to connect with my Sweet Nuts.
“I think the only other one on the list might be Norah Jones: great voice, decent tits, lovely face.”
“Okay, enough. Enough. No redheads on your list?”
“There’s only one redhead for me, Crazy, you know that. You’re my one and only ginger.”